Atomic-Scale Understanding of Deformation Mechanisms in Advanced Metallic Materials

Marta Pozuelo, Ph.D.
Research Scientist and Lecturer
Materials Science and Engineering Department
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

The  design  of  advanced  metallic  materials  with  enhanced  mechanical  properties  is  always  based  on microstructural optimization and proper control of the nucleation and propagation of crystalline defects such as dislocations and twins.

In 1956, the movement of a dislocation was observed for the first time in an Al foil through transmission electron microscopy. Since then, further developments on electron microscopy have allowed us to not only characterize those defects at higher resolution, but also to study in-situ their dynamic interaction during deformation.

In this talk, I will present current methodologies based on in-situ nanomechanical testing and cutting-edge characterization techniques to understand, at the atomic scale, phenomena such as the role of dislocations and  nanotwins  on  the  strength  and  ductility  of  nanostructured  Mg  alloys,  thermal  stability  of nanocrystalline materials, the dynamic interaction between solute atoms and dislocations in body centered cubic alloys, among others. Computer simulations using the most advanced interatomic potentials are being implemented in support of our experimental approaches. Combined, these techniques are breaking new ground and providing a framework for the design of advanced structural materials.

Marta Pozuelo is a Research Scientist and a Lecturer in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She received her Ph.D. in Physics  and Materials Science from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain in 2004. After completing her Ph.D. on high performance steel laminated composites, she carried out post-doctoral research on high-nitrogen stainless steels with Prof. Georg Frommeyer at the Max-Planck Institute in Dusseldorf, Germany. In 2005 she obtained a Fulbright Fellowship to work on precipitation hardening of Ni-based superalloys with Prof. Alan J. Ardell at UCLA. Her current research interest focuses on nanostructured metallic materials, with emphasis on the atomic-scale characterization of their deformation mechanisms. She has published over 47 articles  in  international  journals  including  Nature,  Nano  Letters,  Scripta  Materialia,  Philosophical Magazine, Intermetallics, Materials Research Letters, Scientific Reports, Materials Letters, Materials Science and Engineering A, Composites Science and Technology, Metallurgical and Materials Transaction and others.